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FUNDA MORGÜL
The history of volunteering in Europe differs from country to country. While some countries have longstanding volunteering traditions, in others the voluntary sector is still poorly developed or still has to emerge.
According to a 2007 Eurobarometer survey, three out of ten Europeans say they take part in voluntary activities. Some estimates place the total number of EU volunteers at 92 to 94 million adults. There has been a general increase in the number of active volunteers and voluntary organizations in the EU over the past ten years.
In 2011, the European Commission launched the European Year of Volunteering to celebrate the efforts of the estimated 100 million Europeans who take part in voluntary activities. The year also aimed at making volunteering easier for people and improving the quality of volunteering in Europe.
The Commission is also working to improve and promote volunteering among young people, particularly to encourage volunteering across borders. The European Voluntary Service is the best-known program helping young people to volunteer abroad.
What does European Voluntary Service mean?
EVS (European Voluntary Service) is an international volunteer program funded by the European Commission. It enables all young people legally resident in Europe, aged between 18 and 30 years, to carry out an international volunteer service in an organization or in a public body in Europe, Africa, Asia or South America for a period ranging from 2 to 12 months. It provides the reimbursement of travel expenses and complete coverage of the costs of food and accommodation for the international volunteer.
What are the principles of European voluntary service?
Among the principles of European Voluntary Service, young people can increase their skills through the practical experience of volunteering abroad. In addition, this program encourages the learning of another language and aims to improve the ability of young people to interact with a different language and cultural people. In this way, the European Union allows the spread of tolerance among young people.
EVS is not
The EVS program does not rely on occasional part-time volunteer work. It is not an internship in any organization. They do not provide them with paid work. This program is not a paid job. It should not be considered as entertainment or tourist activity. On the contrary, it is a program that requires great responsibility.
EVS proposes projects in different areas
EVS proposes many projects in different areas. These areas; culture, international mobility, sports, social care for the elderly, the disabled and the immigrants, art, leisure, media and communications, environmental protection, education and rural developmen, and development cooperation. Thanks to this diversity, young people can easily choose to perform the project they want. This variety is being increased and developed every year by adding other projects.
European volunteers in Eskişehir
"My EVS experience was extraordinary. I can't describe it in words. My project was My World Your World Our World. It was about informing campaigns, youth programs, communities, and festivals. We were also organizing training workshops on international projects, local events, project development and brainstorming for students aged 12 to 19 in school. In addition, I participated in good and healthy lifestyle campaigns, speech classes, post-lunch table games and other programs such as talk clubs organized by local youth. I also took part in organizing youth festivals at the end of the school year to contribute to the local youth government and the youth council. In addition, we organized and organized social events such as meetings, communication activities and workshops on motivation and satisfaction with local volunteers. We have worked in visual and artistic ways such as collecting pictures, preparing films and documentaries for the exhibition works. I have made friends with many people and each friendship is very valuable for me. They all warm up as a family. We shared our happiness, our sadness and, in short, our lives. At the same time, the city residents were very friendly, polite and understanding. They willingly helped me learn Hungarian. Everyone was extremely perfect. I tried my best to win their love. It was great to take part in this project”.
“First of all, you can really experience a variety of projects. For example, you can participate in activities related to nature conservation (environmental cleaning - informing local people, etc.), work in a kindergarten and organize activities with young children, or you can support the activities of a youth organization in both offices and the field. For example, this was my project. ICJA Freiwilligenaustausch Weltweit was a youth organization based in Berlin. While organizing national and international youth exchange and training courses, they organized summer camps in various cities of Germany. Summer camps were in Frankfurt. The project I received approval was in summer camp. Among his duties were volunteers who wanted to attend summer camps in Germany, prepare visa invitation letters, and prepare the necessary documents. In addition, I took an active role in the training course documentation and youth exchange projects and evaluation of the project questions. But what I love the most is if you talk about the camp and tell volunteers. I'm leading the construction of a children's park, it's part of the summer camps that I'm talking about. At the end of the project, a completion certificate called ve Youthpass ”is presented, which examines the knowledge, skills, and experience that the project brings to you. In this way, you have a document that proves what you do. While you are visiting the country and surrounding countries during your stay, you discover new cultures. Thanks to the new people you meet, you can say 'I have a friend in every country' when you turn around and improve your foreign language”.
In the office, youth exchange programs, different types of volunteerism, etc. I gave useful information about. For example, we were organizing various workshops such as foreign language CV preparation or job search abroad. One of my major (and my favorite) assignments was to teach English for Spaniards from 16 to 35 years of age. It was difficult as in the beginning after a few weeks classes began to give me more and more satisfaction. I learned what to pay attention to, how to prepare the lessons and how to encourage students to participate actively in classes. I've been really attached to some students and felt really sad when I was finishing the course, but I was really happy to help them somehow. Presenting the European Voluntary Service and spending time in Barcelona was a different experience”.
"After hours of looking at the database, I finally came up with different projects all over Europe. Carpe Diem was the NGO with one of the best projects and they were the first ones to reply. And there I was in Croatia in early October 2016. Although Karlovac is not very big, it is very well placed in Croatia. As I and other EVS volunteers arrived here, we met with a great community willing to know us. We joined the volunteer team in our organization Carpe Diem and started figuring out the best way to prepare and implement our projects. The first months were mainly dedicated to this, getting to know the place, the people, the way people work and of course, how we organize our working time. With my fellow volunteer colleagues (Théo from France and Pablo from Spain) our first move was to prepare workshops in specific fields. They prepared language classes and I organized video making workshops. My constant goal was to adapt my objectives to what is actually possible. I had no idea how my activities would work so I had to adapt and stick to the resources available, which can be human (potential participants) or material (equipment and promotion). Finally, from this experience, I took out endless new life lessons. A wonderful opportunity to travel and discover a new culture, challenge myself by working in English, learning to take initiative and be independent. I truly consider my EVS as the most complete experience in my life so far, I had ups and downs, which is a necessity in my opinion. One thing is sure, I will never forget this place and how it had been influencing my life”.
These are stories of EVS people from Eskişehir. If you are interested in volunteering in a European country, you can check this website for more information: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_tr
Just as a reminder, EVS changed its name and now the program is called European Solidarity Corps.
